Community engagement

Have your say

Help us find solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition to net zero emissions by commenting on the ACT’s new Climate Strategy to a Net Zero Emissions Territory discussion paper. With the ACT community’s support, the Government has committed to a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest as part of its commitment to the global effort to limit global warming to two degrees.

We want your help to reach that emissions target, both through your ideas and your practical, daily actions. Your ideas on how we can lower our emissions will feed into the ACT’s next climate change strategy, which may set a pathway to achieve interim targets for 2030, 2040 and, ultimately, net zero emissions for the ACT out to 2050 at the latest. We want your feedback on what this pathway and interim targets could be, as well as whether net zero emission should be met by 2045 (or earlier).

Community participation

Community participation is vital to successfully achieve net zero emissions. Climate change affects everyone, and the solutions will rely on the whole community’s participation. There are already a lot of positive community projects and initiatives happening in the ACT that are an important part of the solution.

The ACT Government will continue to work with the community as we make the journey to net zero emissions and build resilience to climate change impacts.

Climate projections for the ACT indicate warmer and drier conditions with more frequent droughts and bushfires. Extreme weather events are projected to become more severe. These will have the biggest impact on the most vulnerable in our community—the very young and old, the disadvantaged and those with ill-health.

The ACT Government Community Engagement Strategy on Climate Change builds on the important climate change engagement work already underway in the Territory. It sets out how the ACT Government will communicate with the community about climate change, including by making sustainability and climate change information readily available to households, schools, businesses and community groups.

Research findings - community survey on climate change

The Government conducted a survey of community views and understandings about climate change in the ACT in 2013 and replicated the survey in 2016. To enable comparison between the surveys, questions were kept the same apart from a new question relating to electric vehicles,.

Highlights of the 2016 survey include:

90% of respondents agreed that climate change is a genuine problem for the future

71% of respondents believe they will be seriously affected by climate change, as opposed to 63% in 2013

51% of respondents believe that the ACT Government needs to act urgently on climate change, compared to 43% in 2013

the willingness of residents to pay to cover the extra cost incurred by climate action increased from $1.60 to $2.70 per day, and from $399 to $659 on an annual basis

the awareness of ACT Government policies increased from 40% to 58%.

The new question on electric vehicles addressed barriers and deciding factors for people to invest in electric vehicles. The three factors most likely to influence a person’s decision to buy an electric vehicle are:

cost of electric vehicles (58%)

fast charging locations in the city (52%)

increased driving range (32%).

The final 2016 survey can be found here, the 2013 survey can be found here.